There are millions of children experiencing parental imprisonment all over the world. This book is about their problems, human rights and how they are treated throughout the justice process from the arrest of a parent to imprisonment and release.

Peter Scharff Smith is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark. He has published books and articles in Danish, English and German on prisons, punishment and human rights, including works on prison history, children of imprisoned parents, and the use of solitary confinement in prisons.

"This is a compassionate and gripping account of the impact of arrest, imprisonment and release of parents on children, written from a human rights perspective. For the children, 'always the losers', these experiences constitute a major life crisis, leaving deep traces. Criminal justice professionals are often moved by these realities in their work. Peter Scharff Smith's careful and poignant analysis shows how the prison, families and society interact, and how much collateral damage is done along the way, particularly during times of punitive sentiment and legislation. His book represents applied research at its best, changing levels of awareness, proposing reforms, and adding powerfully to the theoretical literature on the modern techniques, technologies and effects of penal power." - Alison Liebling, University of Cambridge, UK

"Peter Scharff Smith has produced a deeply sensitive and powerful look at an extremely important, widespread, but little examined human rights crisis the consequences of mass incarceration on the children of the imprisoned. Of course, these children are innocent of wrongdoing, but placed at grave risk nonetheless by aggressive policies of incarceration that have been pursued worldwide. Smith's insightful analysis is based on a truly impressive number of diverse and corroborating sources of data that enable him to provide both a compelling portrait of this critical problem and offer a number of practical yet urgent and humane solutions. A magnificent achievement." - Craig Haney, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA